The shrill reaction of critics in the political-industrial complex to Take Back Our Republic daring to challenge the redistricting process in Massachusetts are included in this piece in the Talking Points Memo.

They are eerily similar to the reaction of the political-industrial complex to this National Review article a year before Take Back Our Republic was formed, when they expressed the same contempt for our now Executive Director’s decision to run Dave Brat against the sitting Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Only time will tell if critics eat crow as they did five months later in 2014 when Brat emerged as the only candidate to defeat a sitting majority leader in the history of the country – despite raising less than $20,000 his first two months compared to Eric Cantor’s $5 million in the bank.

Deja vu – the people for whom politics and political reporting is big business respond to our grassroots effort as “amateur,” “embarrassing,” or simply say they have never heard of our effort – very similar to the disdain of the insiders for the challenge of Cantor and other campaigns viewed as silly attempts to take on the power structure – from AOC to Trump.

As an educational organization, we encourage you to read all the criticisms in the piece to be better informed and make your own decisions. We also distinguish the insider’s protecting their turf from legitimate constructive criticism, such as the Republican State Legislative Committee pointing out that some nonpartisan commissions have unfortunately been hijacked for partisan purposes – including a newly formed entity in Massachusetts with oversight in another matter.

To those who ridicule the idea of a grassroots campaign winning over Massachusetts legislators to look at a new approach to redistricting, we note that not many thought Ohio legislators would sign off on a new redistricting commission that would open the process and allow the minority party some power, nor that a Michigan State Supreme Court would allow voters to form a nonpartisan commission. Unfortunately the political-industrial complex deciding THEY will decide which states deserve a process that favors voters instead of either party – and that grassroots organizations like Take Back Our Republic should not look out for voters in other states is par for the course, but misses how fed-up voters across the country have become with national organizations making decisions on whether or not they deserve a better process in their state.